The refrigerator light goes on...

There's another stuffed pepper recipe on the Dr. Gourmet website. It's a vegetarian side dish, and I love it. This one is the traditional ground beef and rice that I had when I was growing up. Most recipes call for white rice, but the brown rice is not only healthier but gives the dish a great nutty flavor. As with white rice, the brown rice needs to be slightly undercooked so that it's not overcooked in the oven.

Brown Rice

Brown rice is the more natural form of rice because it hasn't had the outer bran layer stripped away. The bran layer is high in fiber and other nutrients but it is the lovely nutty flavor and chewier texture that makes brown rice so appealing. I especially like to use brown rice in Mexican and Southwestern recipes.

I think that it works well in certain soups because of the savory nut-like flavor it adds. You can use an equal amount of white rice. The brown rice will need to cook longer so the bran layer is cooked well enough that it will not make the soup grainy. As with white rice shorter grain rice will have a higher starch content and make for a creamier, sticky rice than longer grain rice.

While the rice and filling are cooking, remove the stem and core the peppers. Remove the seeds.

When the rice is done fold it into the ground beef.

Fill the peppers with the rice and ground beef mixture. Place in a shallow pan and put the pan in the oven. Roast for about 15 minutes, then reduce the heat in the oven to 300°F. Roast for another 20 minutes until the pepper is soft but not mushy. Serve.